Review: Nice ‘N’ Sleazy, Sauchiehall Street

I’ve been going to Sleazy’s for years. A regular student haunt, it’s always been a brilliant pub, but used to offer cheap food with quality to match. In more recent times things have gone significantly uphill with the introduction of “Meathammer Ltd” in the kitchen. I’ll be honest, I’ve looked into this and can’t for the life of me figure out if this an external company or just the one team giving the kitchen a fancy name, but frankly I don’t care. What I do care about is that they proudly claim on the sign outside to offer “the best burger in town” so we just had to check them out.

If you’ve never been to Nice N Sleazy for any reason, it’s definitely worth a look in. The decor is eccentric, shabby and very comfortable with a long bar, a couple of small raised seating areas and narrow booths lining one entire side of the space. The walls are busy and messy with graffiti scrawls (seemingly encouraged) covering the majority. The whole place has a real lived-in feel, which is appropriate for this staple of the Glasgow night-life scene.

The bar is well stocked with a good selection of draught lagers including Williams Draught as well as familiar faces like Fosters and Heineken. They also have a great selection of bottled beer, wines and enough spirits to make you pretty much any cocktail you fancy. That being said, I’ve tried to order one of their £2.95 Mojitos about 4 times in the last 2 months, and only once have they had any mint! It was a good day, and a decent Mojito for the money.

But enough preamble, all you want to hear about the food. In a word, it is FANTASTIC. My first experience of Meathammer’s work was the wonderful Beef Brisket Sandwich. Served in a burger bun, the shredded brisket was tender, so flavoursome and topped with a delicious green relish, american mustard, gherkins and various other goodies. At the time I proclaimed this to be one of the tastiest things I’d ever eaten in Glasgow, I’m still pretty convinced.

The Great White Buffalo

My second Sleazy experience was just a couple of weeks later when I went for the “Great White Buffalo.” This is a standard burger pattie, topped with stilton cheese, bacon and flavoured with Bourbon and Tabasco sauce. Again, delicious. They absolutely load their burgers with accompaniments here, but everything is so well balanced that it really does nothing but enhance the meaty goodness of the burger itself. The GWB wasn’t quite as spectacular as the Brisket, but a solid burger, and definitely up there with the best. On this second trip I was accompanied by a vegetarian friend who went for the Heart of the Sunrise, a veggie burger topped with halloumi, avocado and roasted peppers. In a world where veggie burgers are so often considered second-class citizens, this was a revelation as well and just as enjoyable as the carnivorous mess which I was tucking into.

The Heart of the Sunrise

All of the burgers are served with triple cooked chips which are HEAVILY seasoned (some say too much – I love my chips salty) and absolutely delicious as well. Super crispy on the outside, fluffy and tasty in the middle, just how a chip should be. A variety of other meals are available on the menu, mainly in the form of Burritos and Quesadillas. Maybe I’ll try them one day, but if you’re coming to Sleazy’s and not having a burger at the moment, you’re doing it wrong.

So there you have it, I really can’t recommend this place enough. If you like a burger, a beer, a relaxed atmosphere with great tunes on the jukebox I think you’d be really hard pushed to find better in Glasgow than Sleazy’s. In a world where old favourites often fade out in favour of new competition, it’s great to see that this place is better than ever.